INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

Culture Night is the annual all of Ireland celebration of culture, creativity and the arts.  This year, Culture Night will take place on Friday 21^st September, arts groups, arts centres, artists and communities come together to provide an extraordinary evening of imaginative and entertaining free cultural experiences in cities, towns and villages from midday to midnight.

Cork County Council’s Arts Office is working with the Dept of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to plan and coordinate a programme of events throughout County Cork. Last year we had our most successful night ever with 136 events taking place in 41 locations and involving 173 artists and arts groups.  The success of Culture Night is entirely due to the input of so many artists and groups.

Why take part in Culture Night?

• It’s a great opportunity for an artist or arts group to organise an event or activity that will promote the work you do and attract interest in the community.
• Because all events must be free and open to the public, it’s a great way of reaching new audiences.
• It’s an opportunity for encouraging more people to play a role in local cultural activity or to get involved in the work of your organisation
• It brings people together and helps create a sense of community belonging and wellbeing.
• It’s a great social event that inevitably leads to new conversations and ideas about culture and creativity.

Interested?

Culture night encompasses all art forms and events can range from hosting a storytelling event, organising an exhibition; concert, dance performance or parade, all of which reflect the diversity of culture in County Cork. To participate in Culture Night your event and venue has to be free to the public and take place between 4pm  and midnight on Friday September 21^st.

How to get involved

First you need to decide on you event, who will be involved and where and when it will take place.   Culture Night is a great opportunity to showcase your regular activity but we also encourage participating organisations to look at ways of attracting new audiences and creating interest in your work in the locality.  This year, we would be particularly excited to see groups come together to collaborate and plan a programme of events in your town or village. This type of collaboration can create unique and exciting events that spark local interest and can draw larger and more varied audiences to your event.

When you have decided on your event you need to complete the online event information form   We will include the information your give us in the printed county programme of events, the County Cork Culture Night website and the national culture night website.

Some ideas to ensure your community gets the most out of Culture Night:

• Think about customer care at all stages of your planning, from the choice of event to how you let people know what’s happening, to people’s experience on the night.
• Consider organising performances or events in public areas to draw visitors in.
• Think about ways you could cater for families or a variety of age groups, or ways you could attract people who don’t usually attend culture or arts events to go to
• Culture Night.
• Use Culture Night as an opportunity to commission new work or work with other artists in your area.
• Make as much use as possible of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media to promote your event and increase people’s engagement with your organisation/venue/work/etc. not just on the night, but also in the run-up to Culture Night and afterwards. ‘Tagging’ and using hashtags will make it easier for us (@CorkCountyArts) and the national Culture Night pages (@CultureNight) to share and promote your event.

Funding support

Culture Night relies on individuals and organisations being prepared to organise events using their own resources.  While all events should be self financing, the Arts Office may be able to provide a small amount of funding to some projects on the basis of the event having exceptional costs or having the potential to create a unique event that will attract public interest. If your event falls into this category, you should, when completing the online event form, highlight any significant costs and make a case for support.  As a guide, funding support will only apply to exceptional costs such as artist fees, hire of sound/lighting equipment, etc.

Irish Language funding: For those who are planning an event that will promote the Irish language, outside of the Gaeltacht, a limited amount of funding is available from An tOireachtas.  Funding applications may be submitted directly to majella@antoireachtas.ie before July 15^th .

What role will Arts Office play?

We will promote Cultural events organised by artists, arts groups, community groups, schools, business groups and others.  Judy Reardon has been contracted to coordinate Cork County Culture Night 2018. Judy will compile all information for the printed Cork County Culture Night Programme and for www.culturenightcorkcounty.ie  Judy will also provide practical advice and support to any organisations interested in taking part.  We will be organising a targeted print and social media campaign to ensure public awareness of your event at a local, regional and national level, as well as providing marketing support through the Culture Night Cork County website, social media, printed programme etc.

Important!

The deadline for the submitting content and three images for the Cork County printed programme is 5pm, Friday, July 6th 2018.  Event information received after this date can’t be included in the printed programme but will be listed on the Cork County Culture Night Website – www.culturenightcorkcounty.ie  or the national website – www.culturenight.ie

For advice and support, contact

Judy Reardon, 021 4285000 ext 6971.
Email: culturenightcorkcounty@gmail.com